Keyboards connected to data input electronic devices and the like are usually provided with touch areas through which the data is transferred. In the following text, the term “touch area” will be referred to any uncovered or covered key or a button having any shape and size that is pressed in order to transfer a signal corresponding to letters, numbers and other symbols. The touch areas are adapted to close an electrical circuit when they are touched or pressed so as to transfer electronic signals from the keyboard to the electronic device. Every touch area transfers a signal that represents a certain character, number or symbol. Keyboards are well known in the art.
Usually, the keys of the keyboard are provided with an indication of the symbol so as to connect the key to the symbol. There are available keyboards, especially for children, in which the keys has a certain shape or a drawing is provided on them that corresponds the signal. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,319 “Simplified Computer Keyboard” by Satloff filed in 1995. This keyboard is arranged for the use of a child. The simplified keyboard arrangement has a matrix of keys that are so situated to facilitate interaction between a child and a device such as a computer.
The size of the keyboard is usually determined by the number of symbols (letters, numbers, functions) on the keyboard and the number of groups of symbols. There is a need to provide keyboards or active surfaces in which the touch areas are arranged in a compact layout so as to enable all data entry capabilities to be presented on a relatively small surface. A wide spectrum of electronic devices is constantly turning up as terminals of computerized environment such as cyberspace, d-entertainment in general and d-TV in particular, pagers and other communication devices. Smaller keyboards or active surfaces are especially needed for portable electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, or remote controls.
Physical limitations and the need for smaller keyboards brought about several solutions for data entry. A very popular solution is applied in cell phones, which are portable and relatively small.
An erstwhile solution is applied in almost all available computer keyboards in which the touch areas are arranged in a standard order referred to as QWERTY. In those keyboards, which require a relatively sizable activating surface, the use of two touch areas combined together is used in order to reduce the number of touch areas. In the English language, for example, the upper case letters are typed by clicking the letter's key while the shift key is held down or the Caps Lock key is activated. In this way, two sets of letters, upper case and lower case, are activated through one set of touch areas. However, the classical QWERTY configuration is not compatible with devices having a small surface for data entry such as cell phones due to size and uncomfortable hand and fingers movement and position.
Alternatives for keyboards such as handwriting recognition (HWR) and voice recognition (VR) were found to be inadequate. HWR is relatively slow even when backed up by sophisticated “heavy” algorithms. “Light” algorithms in personal digital assistants (PDA) cannot handle HWR, hence lack the ability to achieve accurate data entry. Moreover, the best HWR solutions still suffer from up to 10% mistakes, especially encountered during real and fast handwriting. Similar limitations are associated with VR. There are inaccuracies in recognition during fast dictation or changes in dictating voice. VR is especially prone to environmental artifacts such as noise, radio, traffic, loudspeakers, air-conditioning and more.
A solution for compact keyboards is applied currently in available cell phones. A few letters are introduced in each of the numerical touch areas. However, several clicks on a touch area are needed in order to choose some of the letters. It has been shown that a massage of 143 characters length needs 366 strikes on touch areas (“Cellular users refuse to click” by Hadar Horesh, Ha'aretz (daily magazine, Israel) Feb. 25, 2001 pp G4). This is still cumbersome and time consuming.
A more recent solution for decreasing the surface of the touch areas is Tegic T9 technology for phone keyboards. This technology provides free key tapping, where desired letter is typed by pressing the key that stands for it, regardless its order among other letters appearing on the same key. Resultant letters are simply a consecutive sequence of those letters coming first in the order on pressed keys (e.g., consecutive 7663 represents PMMD). After pressing the space bar, T9 software identifies intended word or words based on the provided algorithm (7663“space bar” stands for two equivalent words: SOME and ROOF). After several words that are equivalents of the pressed keys combination appear, the user should scroll over them and pick up the desired word. Until the final word is obtained, the user remains a victim of doubts and non-confidence of what will be turned out finally. Moreover, entry of a part of a word is impossible through T9 technology. The use of T9 technology is cumbersome and difficult in entry and retrieval of data.
To conclude, it seems that the available solutions for touch areas layout in small devices is still inadequate, not compatible or cumbersome for users. There is a need to provide another arrangement of letters that will make the keyboard friendlier to the user and more comfortable.